With a lineup that can swell to eight members and songs that meander past the ten-minute mark, the Warlocks could be accused of excess. But to hear them tell it, they have a humble goal. "We want to make music that people want to fuck to," says guitarist JC Rees. "Fuck long and well to," clarifies fellow guitarist Corey Lee Granet.
At the very least, Phoenix, the Los Angeles band's second full-length album, seems calculated to screw with people's minds. The group's three-guitar, two-drummer armada unloads a drone-heavy, densely textured din. Combined with singer/guitarist Bobby Hecksher's world-weary vocals, the result is a darkly psychedelic vibe that conjures the Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3 (whose ex-guitarist, Sonic Boom, contributes feedback).
Because of this--and the fact that the group's live show is an orgy of strobe lights, oil projections, and other trippy flourishes--the Warlocks are seen as substance-abuse torchbearers. "You'd think that when you're rolling through town, people would offer you drugs," Rees says with a sigh. "But when we come through, people ask us, 'What do you have?'"
Pictured above: Danny Hole, Jason Anchondo, JC Rees, Bobby Hecksher, Jeff Levitz, and Corey Lee Granet
